Influence of acetylsalicylic acid (1.0 g/day) on platelet survival time, β-thromboglobulin and platelet factor 4 in patients with peripheral arterial occlusive disease

Abstract

In this study we investigated the influence of acetylsalicylic acid (ASA) 1.0 g/day on 111-In-platelet survival time (PST) and on plasma levels of β-thromboglobulin (β-TG) and platelet factor 4 (PF 4) in 37 patients (median age: 63.4 years) with arteriographically proven peripheral arterial occlusive disease (PAOD) in a chronic stable phase. We found a slight but significant increase of PST during therapy with ASA (weighted mean (WM): 184.3 → 193.2 [median]hours, p < 0.05; multiple hit (MH): 182.4 → 192.8 hours, p<0.005) for the total group of patients. Concerning the influence of risk factors of PAOD on PST during ASA-therapy, there was a significant increase of PST only in the nondiabetics (WM: 180.3 → 204.6 hours p<0.01; MH: 176.8 → 195.3 hours, p<0.01). There was a negative correlation between the baseline values of PST and their increase following ASA therapy (WM: r = - 0.63; p<0.0001; MH: r = - 0.61, p<0.0001). The pretreatment levels of β-TG - but not PF 4 - were significantly (p<0.001) elevated compared to healthy controls. Therapy with ASA caused a significant decrease in the plasma levels of β-TG (median: 30.4 → 26.6 ng/ml, p<0.001) and PF 4 (2.95 2.2 ng/ml, p<0.01).